SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

azathothpwiggins Having first heard whispers about GRIZZLY 2: THE CONCERT, and only that it "starred" Laura Dern, Charlie Sheen, and George Clooney, I was interested to see these actors together in their earliest roles. Tracking down a version of this lost "film", made from the fragments available, I watched eagerly. Wellll, let's just say that it was quite a shock to witness this thing! The aforementioned actors had very small parts, in which they play typical horror movie fodder. There are also other victims roaming through the woods, awaiting their collective doom, including a group of unbelievably vicious poachers! Wow! These guys would fit right in w/ those insanely eeevil backwoodsmen from DELIVERANCE! The rest consists mostly of a big concert being performed in the same park terrorized by the monster bear of the title. Said concert, overseen by a particularly cranky woman (Louise Fletcher), is certainly a spectacle, but not in any positive way! Combining the worst, most synthetic elements of MTV w/ DANCE FEVER, this concert is more like watching an overlong exercise video of the same era. Lacking in energy, artistic quality, or even entertainment value, the singers / dancers appear lost on stage, wondering where Deney Terrio might have gone. This is made even more tragic, knowing that an actual rock band was supposed to perform, but was inexplicably replaced by these Studio 54 rejects! Meanwhile, wild-eyed hunter / gatherer, John Rhys-Davies lumbers about, looking for the titular creature. It all -blessedly- ends in an explosive non-finale of madness and spandex. Alas, this movie is sooo ethereally godawful, that it will probably never be finished. This is an enormous blow, since it could very well have been the ultimate mega-schlock masterpiece! My tears flow freely, now...

Lebowskidoo If you never saw this, it was most likely because it was never officially released, until the various scraps of film were assembled and released to an unsuspecting internet in 2007. I found it on YouTube, and it is simply fascinating on a retro level, and on a filmmaking level as well. The movie was never completed due to running out of money or unpaid bills or some such jibber-jabber. It seems as though most of the movie was already done...except any bear scenes, such as the bear killing anyone at all. So there's no payoff for horror fans in that respect. The only thing going for it is simple curiousity.This movie is stocked with famous faces, which is rare for an unfinished and unreleased sequel to a killer bear movie. Louise Fletcher, an actual Oscar winner, who was born to play evil bitches, plays another one here. Charlie Sheen, Laura Dern and George Clooney (another actual Oscar winner) all appear in scenes together as a trio of doomed campers. Other famous faces include John Rhys-Davies as a "French Canadian Indian" a.k.a. "The Quint Role." Deborah Foreman (Valley Girl) appears sporadically too.Did I mention the soundtrack is loaded, I mean LOADED with Michael Jackson songs from the Thriller album, which are played constantly at any of the concert scenes? I believe this to be the real reason why the money was never finished, can you imagine how expensive it would be to pay for the rights to those songs now?It plays almost like a regular killer bear movie, minus the killer bear scenes, until near the end, which is where the unfinished portion of our program kicks in. The grand finale is a series of quick cuts and unfinished scenes pieced together in the order they would appear in a finished version, but sometimes there is no sound or you can hear someone yelling "CUT!" This tends to take away from the enjoyment of the movie, but it is unfinished and that's pretty obvious when you get to this point. Still, I wanted to see it and now I have. If you're looking to complete the series, like I was, go for it. If you're curious and interested in oddball movies in film history, I say go for it too. If you're looking for a good movie, with things like sound and coherence, maybe stay away! There are some laughs to be had though.

Karen Krull I don't have the whole story, but my father was sent to Budapest during filming to represent an investor in the film. He has a poster for the concert that featured Nazareth (the rock band) that was part of the film. I know he also has hidden somewhere still pictures of the filming and events surrounding the making of the movie. He came back home early from Hungary because of events described in other notes and incredibly disappointed that the investor he represented lost a great deal of money that was never recovered because of certain folks taking advantage of the investors involved. My dad still talks about how he thought it was a great script and a high quality movie with a quality cast. Two big mistakes: producer didn't take care of the investments of others and they didn't use a real bear for some of the scenes opting for a mechanical puppet that didn't operate the way they hoped. I don't know much about this, but I assume that many creative types are not good business people and many can't manage a budget wisely. Is there a copy available for public viewing at this point? It would be interesting to see the attention it would receive with a cast that includes George Cluny, Charlie Sheen, and Laura Dern from the beginnings of their careers.

rossistheboss Briefly, the film's co-producer was unable to clear the Grizzly title because of a bankruptcy court involving the original Grizzly picture. Superstar Charlie Sheen's first picture, it also starred Laura Dern, Louise Fletcher, John Rhys-Davies, Deborah Foreman and Deborah Raffin. When problems arose with the animatronic 18 foot bear, Academy Award director John Avildsen advised me to shoot the bear footage with a large man wearing a bear suit. We went back to Budapest, Hungary, where the forest stood in for Yellowstone National Park and re-shot bear footage. Menahem Golan whose Cannon Films bought the picture went into bankruptcy after making a deal on the picture. I have videotapes of the original footage in our garage on Long Island and the screenplay that I co-wrote. My producer wife, Florina Massbaum, and I currently reside on the West Coast where we have several pictures in the works, including Racer Rocket Rebel which Haley Joel Osment read and will star in once we complete the financing. The re-shot footage includes the bear's attack on the outdoor concert. Amazingly, the Hungarian director who lived in Paris fell apart over personal reasons and I had to take over directing and editing. To this day, I am convinced we should have had the actor (Charlie Sheen) come back alive in the picture and hunt down the bear. In fact, we are currently planning a picture for Mr. Sheen and his stunning wife, Denise Richards. The superstar, George Clooney, makes a great role in the picture, another reason to get this picture out!